A Different Harry Potter
by Willowstar23
Summary: AU. Harry Potters life had he been born 3 years earlier and not been the boy who lived, would have been very, very different. Non-canon, non-bwl!harry, older!harry, NOT slash.
1. Harry Potter

**DISCLAIMER: Any content recognised from the Harry Potter books belongs to J. . I dont own Harry Potter. The rest of the ideas are mine.**

* * *

To anybody who knew Harry Potter he was a quiet boy. He preferred to keep to himself around anybody except his best friend Blaise. In fact, if most of the students at Hogwarts were asked about him, most wouldn't even know anyone of that name existed. All in all he seemed one of those ordinary blend in to the background types, so nobody really paid him that much attention.

To those that did know him, which is to say very few, knew that Harry Potter was anything but ordinary. At 6'2 he was quite tall for his age, with a mop of black curly hair that often made it look like he'd just rolled out of bed and bright green eyes the colour of the Avada kedavra curse. He was quite strikingly handsome. This paired with his lightly tanned skin and muscled frame made him not quite so nonexistent to most of the sixth and seventh year girls. Much to his displeasure, it wasn't uncommon for girls to hang about in the library hoping to catch a glimpse of one Hogwarts most mysterious and elusive boys.

Orphaned as a young child due to a death eater attack in diagonal alley, which killed both his parents a few weeks before the end of the war, young Harry Potter was taken to the ministry by the aurors to the department of child welfare to see what should be done with him. Luckily for Harry his parents had prepared for the worst and left a will with a list of guardians for him to be placed with, should anything happen to them.

The will stated that Harry was the sole beneficiary to the Potter estate, with a small allowance coming out each month for his guardians to look after him on until he became of age. The list of guardians stated that if anything happened he was supposed to be placed with: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Andromeda Tonks, Minevra McGonagal, Hestia Jones, Marlene McKinnon and Amelia Bones, in that order, and never with the Dursley's.

Sirius Black was quickly discounted as he was an important auror and didn't have the time or maturity to raise a child. Remus Lupin was a werewolf and Frank and Alice were in hiding and no one could locate them. That left the Tonks.

The Tonks family were more than happy to take him in, Andromeda having been quite close to James in her youth, but feared that they would not be able to give him the time and care he needed after such a traumatic experience, already having a daughter of a similar age who was quite the handful.

So an agreement was made that Minevra McGonagal would be his primary carer and he would live at her manor in Scotland during the weekends, holidays and evenings and he would go to the Tonks house on the outskirts of London in the day time when Minevra was teaching.

This arrangement worked rather well. Not only did Harry gain a new sister and aunt and uncle, but also a doting grandma, and under the right toulage he flourished. Going to a muggle primary school by day and learning wizarding etiquette on the weekends, he became a well educated and well informed young heir unlike many of his peers, who only cared about what their death eater fathers told them.

This however was much to the displeasure of a certain long bearded meddling old headmaster, who believed Harry should not be concerned in things such as politics and lordships at such a young age, and that Minevra should wait till Harry was much older so that he could have a normal childhood. Minevra strongly disagreed and insisted that she was only giving Harry the tools to succeed in whatever he chose to do, whether that would be that he claimed the lordship of the most noble and ancient house of Potter or not. And of course, it's what Lily and James would have wanted.

So after everything Harry was certainly anything but an ordinary boy, and his life was about to get a lot more interesting.


	2. The Train

September 1st 1994

Platform 9 and 3/4

~ Harry

Another school year. His last to be precise. He was leaning against the window, feet up on the seats looking at a book on wand lore. It was simply fascinating being able to create a medium for which a witch or wizard would channel their magic through. He had gotten a feel for wand making the summer previous when had found an interesting book on how to make custom wands in the McGonagall library. Apparently Minerva's ancestors were a suspicious lot and had not trusted any one other than themselves to make their precious wands, for fear they would be made inferior to other clans wands, meaning they would be more likely to lose on the battle field.

This resulted in several books being created to pass down the family lines, each being more superior than the last, as they perfected their techniques and learnt what the best and strongest materials were to make the most powerful wands.

The days following the discovery of the books led to much pleading, begging and bargaining on Harry's part for him to be allowed to ask Olivander if he would help Harry learn about wand lore and help him practise it. Which was then followed by much pleading, begging and bargaining with Olivander to be able to convince the ancient man that he was responsible and able enough to do it. Eventually however, like a good slytherin, he got his way and spent the rest of the summer in the dusty shop learning how to create wands and figure out what was wrong with existing ones. Needless to say it had been a long, trying summer, but an exciting one all the same.

This year however, he had only spent a couple of weeks with the old Wandmaker before going traveling for the rest of the summer. No doubt his best friend would make him recall everything about his travels in intricate detail. Speaking of which he could see Blaise heading through the train looking for him.

"Blaise !"

* * *

~ Blaise

The Italian looked around finding his friend sitting in a compartment two down from where he was standing and smiled making his way over. He was dying to find out was his friend had been up to all summer as he hadn't seen him and his letters had sporadic and short at best. Nothing to detract him from his mothers constant search for husband number 9, number 8 disappeared somewhere in Outer Mongolia in his fourth year.

From the looks of it Harry had been somewhere hot and sunny all summer, as he was once again sporting a tan and you don't get one of those from spending all summer in the Scottish highlands. Honestly if he didn't know any better he would think McGonagall had a personality disorder, as there was no way that the strict uptight professor that taught transfiguration, was the same person that was Harry's adventurous and over indulgent gran.

"Thought you were never going to make it! I've been waiting here for ages"

"Sorry, I got caught up with my mum and her latest conquest"

"Poor bugger"

"Yeah" he sighed.

"This one a keeper?"

Turning back from putting his trunk on the luggage rack he raised his eyebrows sarcastically. "Nah, only has a couple million, passing fling at best."

Harry let out a low chuckle.

"Yeah" Blaise agreed rolling his eyes, "she's a hardcore gold digger."

After sharing a laugh at ms. Zabini's expense, the conversation got to the real subject, what Harry did this summer.

* * *

~ Harry

"Well... ?"

"Well what?"

"Ugh, don't play this game Harry, I'll drag it out of you if I have to."

Enjoying the suspense a few seconds longer, he closed his book and got comfortable for what promised to be a very long and thorough interrogation.

"Well first off we decided to go to Istanbul, where we met a tribe of wizards who made the most interesting enchanted objects out of animal horns..."

As Harry began to tell his friend all about his many travels over the summer, he couldn't help but feel that despite it being one of the best summers he'd had, second only to the summer of his second year where they'd spent the whole summer in India and he'd learnt to speak Hindi, that this was only the calm before the storm. With what happened at the World Cup it only made him feel more nervous.

"...so then I asked how much they were and he said "25 cents for the lot", I mean, it was ridiculous, the man didn't even know what he had. I left a rand though because I felt guilty. Still, seems as though I robbed him blind."

"What did McGonagall say?"

"Nothing so long as I promised to practise with someone else in the room incase anything goes wrong."

Blaise sighed collapsing back in to his seat. "Only you would be able to find priceless tombs on Druidic healing and ancient Sumerian wards in a muggle second hand shop in some tiny village in South Africa."

"Yeah but I also got this really cool leopard ornament that a guy carved out of wood for me you should see it it's so detailed you'd actually think it was real!"

Blaise squeezed his eyes shut. "Why were they even in a muggle shop in South Africa anyway?"  
"Who cares how they got there, just that they did?"

Hearing his friends deep irritated sigh and realising that he was testing his friends patience he decided to stop talking for a few minutes. It wasn't that he didn't like learning about lost spells and ancient magic to help increase his already vast knowledge because he did, what could be more exciting? But he just preferred people to books and found that they were so much more interesting and could tell of stories and histories in a way books never could. He enjoyed they practical side to magic that living beings could teach, rather than the theory behind it that lied in the musty pages of an old book.

That was where he and Blaise differed. They were almost total opposites of each other. Where Blaise was outspoken and confident despite his bookish tendencies, Harry had more of a quiet confidence and was listener rather than a talker, despite his adventurous and practical personality.

Rummaging through his bag until he found a small nondescript volume that was worn around the edges and slightly ripped along the spine, he tossed it to Blaise.

"What's this?"

"They weren't the only rare books I found on my travels" he said waiting for his friends reaction.

He wasn't disappointed. Blaise's draw dropped as he noticed the title inscribed on the inside of the book and he stuttered. "B-b-but h-_how_?"

He shrugged and smiled " An old man in Mexico gave it to me as a 'thank-you' for helping him re-landscape his garden. When I saw it I thought that you would have more use for it than I would you know how bad I am at potions."

"But this is-"

"The last volume of 'most potente potions' of which only five were ever made?"

"Yeah. Thank you. What do I -"

"Nothing, you don't owe me anything."

"But-"

"No. We may be slytherins but we're friends. Friends are different from allies you can give your friends things just for the hell of it. They don't expect any thing in return. Really, it's fine."

Blaise nodded. Good.

Changing the subject he asked Blaise what he thought of the World Cup.

"Ugh, I wish I could have gone, but I can't believe that we didn't make it to the final. Stupid krum! What about you, did you go?"

"As if gran would let me miss it! You know how mad she is about it!"

Blaise laughed."Yeah, half the time I think she would jump on a broom and _help _griffindors score if wasn't for the fact it would ruin her strict professional image!"

The two boys laughed as the train carried on rolling through the english country side towards Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry.

* * *

~ Neville

"Honestly Ronald, don't you think about anything but your stomach!"

Neville sighed listening to his friends argue, they'd been at it all summer. He didn't know how much more he could take. What he needed, was a nice, peaceful year where he could just get on and maybe help professor Sprout plant some of the dangerous varies of flora.

He liked the gardens, they were peaceful. He didn't mind getting his hands dirty and the physical labor took his mind off things. Sprout had noticed his green thumb in his first year and offered him extra lessons which he hoped would carry on until his final year. The green houses gave a great escape from his life as the boy-who-lived, as hardly anyone wanted to venture into them.

He opened the nearest compartment in the hope that it was empty, if only so he could lock it behind him to get away from his friends constant bickering.

It wasn't.

"Ugh, slytherins!" Ron said from behind him interrupting the two boys from their extremely animated conversation about quiditch.

There were times when his wished his friend had more tact and knew when to keep his mouth shut. Now for instance being one of those moments, as the two boys turned around and glared at them. Both boys looked to be in their sixth or seventh year and both easily topped 6 foot. Looking at the muscles on the curly haired one, which were significantly bigger than his own, he didn't like their chances of escape unharmed if things got ugly.

Hermione gasped. "Is that a book on Druidic magic! I've been tying to find something about the Druids in the library to see if they actually existed. I'm a muggleborn you see."

"Then you'll know that even in muggle school they teach you not to touch what isn't yours" the curly haired one said in a harsh Scottish accent, snatching the book back and putting it back in his trunk.

"Is that a tattoo." She said pointing the boys arm where he could see a design of some sort, coming out from under his rolled up sleeves. "It's against the rules you know."

Make that two friends he wishes knew when to shut up.

"Who even are you?" the Italian looking one asks.

"You don't know who we are! How can you not know who we are, though what can you expect from two slimy slytherins?"

He really wished they would shut up now, maybe he should intervene?

Seeing both wizards reach for their wands he apologized for his friends and dragged them out of the compartment. Maybe this year at hogwarts wouldnt be so peaceful after all.


	3. The Feast

**Disclaimer: harry potter content belongs to JKRowling.**

* * *

Hogwarts

~ Harry

"I mean can you believe the nerve of them, barging into the compartment like they own the place! They're nearly as bad as Malfoy!"

"Nobody's as bad as Malfoy."

"Who's not as bad as Malfoy?" Daphne butted in.

"His royal highness, the boy-who-lived and his stupid sidekicks that's who."

"Ah." Daphne rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"Tha-that Granger barged into our compartment tried bossing us around and then man-handled one of Harry's rare books! That's what happened!"

Another eye roll. It was well known in slytherin that Blaise was almost as bad as miss Pince when it came to books. But that's the thing he liked about Daphne, she didn't make fun of people unless they deserved it, which he had to admit was a rare thing in slytherin. Slytherins were always looking to exploit a weakness, well most of them anyway.

"So, did you have a nice holiday?" He asked Daphne trying to distract Blaise from his rant.

"Mmmm it was ok, we visited some of the family potion farms and then went to a small cottage on the coast of France for the rest of the summer."

Blaise moaned. "Why did everybody else have a good holiday except me."

"Well you should be pleased to know that at least the school _year _won't be so boring."

"What do you mean?"Harry asked.

"I'm surprised you don't know Hadrian, what with your gran being who she is."

That was another thing about Daphne, her tendency to call Harry by his full name. Most of the time his name just got shortened to Harry potter but as he found out when at Gringotts when he was eleven, his full name was Hadrian James Potter-Peverell.

He had gone in to collect his full inheritance as he was allowed on his eleventh birthday, due to him being the last heir of a most ancient and noble house. However he had had to perform an inheritance ritual to prove who he was.

Normally heirs would get taken in by the lords of the houses and they would enter the vaults using the house ring, which only the current lord could wear. However with Harry being the last Potter that was impossible.

He'd cut his hand on a knife and dropped some of his blood in to an ornate marble bowl with ancient runes up the side. The blood then started to form his name.

The Hadrian part wasn't a shock to him as he had always known it was his real name and 'Harry' just a nickname, but the peverell part was a shock. It seems that the last peverell was a daughter, that married into the potter line, but kept her name in honour of her dead family. And thus became the 'Potter-Peverells'.

Over time the name just got shortened back to potter, but he thought it was a cool bit of history so he stuck with it. The peverells were a powerful family after all, it could only bring the potter name more power if people knew they were related to the great wizards of legend.

Daphne being Daphne had also found out that McGonagall was his grandma in third year, as her curious nature had made her follow him around until she found out where he disappeared to for a good portion of the weekend. She had promised not to tell when she found out McGonagall was his grandmother and they'd started a tentative friendship.

Over the years they had become close friends and had even dated for a bit, but ended their relationship on good terms, when they realised they weren't made for each other. Despite that they were close friends because really, their relationship had only lasted a few days.

"No I don't know anything. We went globe-trotting again this summer and decided to go owl-less. All mail got delivered to the manor and stayed there until we came back. There wasn't anything interesting in the pile, although thinking about it, there was the unusual addition of dress robes to the school shopping list, that have anything to do with it?"

"Very good Hadrian. When we were in France I just happened across some seventh year Beauxbatons students who were talking about a tournament happening at Hogwarts this year and who they thought would get to compete."

"So naturally you went over and asked them what they were talking about and they said..." he asked leadingly.

Daphne shot him a dirty look."so I went over and asked them what they were talking about and they said the tri-wizard tournament."

"The tri-wizard tournament?"

"That's what they said." She chirped cheerfully.

"But wasn't that banned ages ago because of all the deaths?" Blaise questions.

Daphne shrugged "they said it was supposedly to promote unity between the magical schools in Europe."

Harry raises his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Yeah that's what they thought."

"So if it's not promote school unity then what is it for?" Blaise asks.

"Your guess is as good as mine, though I really thought McGonagall would have told you something about it."

"She probably didn't know. Dumbledore's always pulling shit like this without telling her. No doubt if it _is _true, she'll give me a lecture about the dangers of it later. Anyway we'll find out soon, the sorting's starting.

* * *

~ Minerva

She couldn't believe Dumbledore. What on earth was he thinking hosting the tri-wizard tournament at Hogwarts. That's exactly it, he wasn't thinking! Honestly he just expects her to drop everything she's doing and run about after him like he's the patron saint of magic! Oh no, not her. He might get other people to do his bidding without a second thought, but not her! She knew he was up to something, he wouldn't have resurrected that thrice damned tournament for the sake of it. Stupid meddlesome neon-robe-wearing old goat! Only time would tell what he was up to, but she'd keep a very close eye on him, very close indeed. And if Harry thought he was going anywhere near that cup to put his name in he had another thing coming! She'd talk to him later about it, just to make sure. He was a good boy, he'd listen to his grandma.

Snatching up the hat as she marched towards the antechamber that held the first years, she went to make her usual introductory speech. None of the firsties really stood out this year, though the group was larger than the previous years, as people had started picking their lives back up at the end of the war.

Standing outside the antechamber, leaning against the wall waiting for the ghosts to pass through, she thought back to when Harry was a first year.

She really should of expected it, him being in slytherin. He had so much ambition and energy, even from a wee babe and going to muggle school and learning about their way of life certainly didn't help.

As a child he was fascinated by everything. He was more reserved right after losing his parents but that was understandable. She soon brought him out of his shell. Going to a muggle primary school he was amazed by all of their gadgets and technology and started to bring things from their world home with him. It was a learning curve for both of them and his enthusiasm for new things was infectious. She started rediscovering parts of herself thought lost when her husband had died many years ago.

She started to realise she was happier, happier than she had been in a long time and realised just how much of life she'd missed out on holing herself up in Hogwarts with no one to care for. She vowed to change and threw all her free time into looking after Harry, which led to his next obsession, travelling.

During his second year of primary Harry spotted a world map up on the wall of the classroom. He'd asked the teacher what it was for and the teacher, so shocked that one so young had asked about it, proceeded to tell harry everything he knew about the country's on it.

When Harry came home jumping up and down, and talking so fast she couldn't tell what he was saying, in the way only children can, she'd gone to the library and pulled out a map that showed the magical country's. Seeing his excitement about it, she'd rummaged around in the library trying to find more on the country's histories and cultures so she could explain the differences between them.

That Christmas she got him a Real magical map that could be enlarged to any size you wanted. It showed both muggle country's and magical country's and where the boundrys overlapped. It was self-updating so it would never be wrong and when you touched a country it would enlarge and you could record facts or photos or memories about that country in it, kind of like a world wide scrapbook.

When she'd given it him he'd cried and she thought he didn't like it until he ran over and hugged her so hard she had to remind him she needed to breathe. He'd declared her the best grandma ever and tears came to her eyes, though she'd deny it when asked. To this day he took it everywhere with him and even hung it up in his dorm beside his bed.

He'd been lonely at first not knowing anyone at Hogwarts, but then his roommate had asked about the map and the rest, as they say, was history. They'd been little hellions the both of them during their first year, always managing to get themselves into trouble _and _out of it just as easily with those adorable wide eyes and chubby faces. They'd been lucky that it had been her that had found them most of the time, rather than Severus, otherwise they would have been in a lot more detentions than they were already.

Deciding the ghosts had already had enough time to scare the children she led them into the great hall for the sorting.

_"A thousand years or more ago  
When I was newly sewn,  
There lived four wizards of renown,  
Whose names are still well known..."_

* * *

~ Neville

Not listening to the sorting as he wouldn't remember any of the names anyway, Neville stared into space and wondered what would happen this year.

After disturbing the two slytherin boys they had finally found an empty compartment, only to be disturbed themselves. Malfoy as usual, had burst in to the compartment and after the normal derogatory insults and meaningless threats, had made a sly comment about something big happening at school this year.

Ron and Hermione had dismissed the comment straight away as just 'Malfoy wanting to seem bigger and more important than them by implying he knew something that they didn't.' Still, he thought that maybe the comment did have a bit of truth to it as everyone knew that Malfoy Sr. had the minister in his pocket and if he'd known about something happening at Hogwarts this year it wasn't to much of a jump to assume that he'd let his son in on the secret. Besides, mrs Weasley and Bill had also eluded to something happening at Hogwarts this year...

Neville was only pulled out of his thoughts by the feast appearing on the table in front of him and after a hearty meal of stew and dumplings followed by a large helping of chocolate cake, it was time for Dumbledores speech.

"So, now that we are all fed and watered, I must ask once more for your attention..."

The first part was his usual spiel, Filch banning more items, the forbidden Forrest being _forbidden,_ however it was the last part of the speech that really got his attention.

"...and it is my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house quiditch cup will not be taking place this year."

Cue pandemonium everywhere. Huge boo's were let out and poor Angelina was nearly in tears. This was her final year and she had just been awarded captaincy this summer.

Dumbledore tried to speak over the racket. "This is due to a event that will be starting in October and continuing through the school year that will take up much of the teachers time and energy, the 'Tri-Wizard Tournament!'"

Huh, turns out Malfoy was telling the truth after all.


	4. September Part 1

September

Hogwarts

~ Harry

The first two weeks of September passed fairly quickly with nothing of note happening other than a few rumours circulating, one of which was that one of the fifth year hufflepuffs had not come back after her O.W.L.'s because she gotten herself knocked up. Not that anyone could tell you who this supposed girl was mind you. The other was that the Weasley twins had pranked Snape by painting his private quarters with bright flashing psychedelic patterns and every time somebody tried to get rid of it, either with magic or with soapy water, they came back twice as strong. He could gladly report that this was in fact completely true.

The poor house elves were driving themselves spare trying to fix it. It was only when he told his own house elf mako that the spell would only wear off by itself, did they stop trying to fix it and go back to their normal duties. _Un_fortunately that bit of news didn't quite have the same effect on Snape, who if it was possible, only got even more furious waiting for things to go back to normal. As a result Snape was a nightmare in class and the griffindors house points went into a very steep decline. So steep in fact by the second day Snape had to stop taking points as there wasn't any more points to take. He couldn't fault the prank though. It took a great amount of skill to do a piece of magic that even house elves couldn't undo. Safe to say he was very impressed.

The other good news was that it appeared that the chaos at the World Cup was a one-time occurrence, as no other attacks had taken place since that night in August. It was probably some 'innocent' death eaters that got drunk and decided to have reunion.

The news about the tri-wizard tournament died down after a week and although there was much speculation about who was going to put their name down he could only name 3 people who were actually going to. He did wonder though, how Dumbledore was going to prevent the younger years from putting their name in the goblet, as with a school full of children there were sure to be lots of very creative and inventive ways students would try to get past whatever age-restricting barrier was put on it.

By the beginning of the third week though students were starting to get restless. Without the regular quiditch matches taking place, most of the usual players, himself included, had a lot of pent up energy with no way to release it. Making already irritable teenagers unbearable.

That's why when they were curled up by the fire in the common room, going over some runes homework, he decided to broach the subject to his friend.

"Don't you think we should do something about quiditch?"

"Like what? Dumbledore's already decided that there isn't going to _be _any quiditch this year, so there's no point in fighting it, he won't change his mind. Besides the teachers are all to busy."

" I didn't say anything about a quiditch tournament, just _playing_ some quiditch."

"Huh?" Was Blaise's eloquent reply.

"I mean, we could organise a couple of quiditch matches ourselves. We don't actually need teachers to do _that_." He explained .

Blaise's eyes lit up as he leaned forward,"you know what I think you're on to something. But how would we get anyone to join in?"

"Put a letter up on the board announcing a full house meeting and then ask who would be interested."

"Brilliant" Blaise said getting excited,"but we would need a referee."

"Yeeaaah?" Harry asked questioningly.

"Well we wouldn't be able to get anyone from slytherin to referee or the game would never be fair. That means having to get someone from a different house to do it, but that would just make it more complicated."

He shrugged "get them to take a vow."

"What?"

He sighed. "Honestly Blaise is don't know whether you're just stupider than normal today or whether you honestly don't know what a magical vow is."

Blaise scowled, "I know what a magical vow is Hadrian."

"Good. 'Cos it didn't seem like it. It's simple really, just get them to swear on their magic that they will referee the game fairly and unbiasedly until the game has ended and all the players are on the ground. That way there's no loopholes and you get a fair referee."

"Isn't that an oath?"

He rolled his eyes "yeah yeah, same thing."

Blaise wrinkled his nose. "Not really but the principle's the same."

He ripped off some parchment from the nearest roll and scribbled the time and date for the meeting on it and stuck it to the common room notice board.

"There done. Now let's see if anyone turns up."

As they settled back down on the sofas Blaise frowned.

"Hey I'm not stupid!"

* * *

~ Fred

"Are you sure this is going to work?" He said checking the map.

"Of course, do you doubt me Gred?"

"Not at all Forge, just want to- hey look at this!"

"What ?"

He pointed to a spot on the map that was heading out of McGonagall's quarters and back down the hall towards the great hall.

"So, Minnie's got a midnight visitor...what about it?"

"Not that you idiot this" he said pointing to the name above the dot.

"Is that-"

"I think it is dear brother."

"Prongs junior" they breathed.

"Come on we've got to follow them!"

Rushing down the corridors disturbing several portraits along the way, it appeared that were going to lose their mysterious pranking legacy.

"Down this way, if we go down the east corridor and use the third staircase-"

"-Missing the seventeenth step-"

"-And go through the secret passage way by the great hall, we can cut them off"

"What are we waiting for?"

Rushing down their new route they came out just outside the great hall, but their midnight wanderer was nowhere to be found.

"Where are they? We should be able to see them! They should be right in front of us!"

"I am curious why you're trying to find me. I'm not going to be an unwilling prankee I hope."

"Prongs jr." They bowed to the middle of the corridor not knowing where their mystery deity was, "we are not worthy!"

There was a shimmer of something to the left and suddenly their mystery pranking legacy was visible. The first thing they noticed was how well built he was. Tall, muscled and _slytherin_ was not quite what they were expecting, but they still treated him like the son of one of the most legendary pranksters to ever walk the walls of Hogwarts all the same.

Their guest laughed. "Please, call me Harry."


	5. September part 2

**Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Harry potter**.

This was very surreal. He was sitting in an abandoned classroom in the middle of the night with the only two Weasley's he could actually stand, talking about his dead father and all the mischief and trouble he got into at school with people who worshipped him. Nothing could of prepared him for this.

Still let it not be said he wasn't a slytherin and his gut was telling him this was a great opportunity. So he told them all they wanted to know about his dad and his friends and the types of pranks they pulled, trying to think of the more spectacular ones that his gran had told him about. In return they told him about some of their greatest pranks, which had him laughing so hard he had a stitch, and what they planned to do in the future. A joke shop. That was something he could work with.

They hadn't told their mother of their plans yet, as they wanted to move out before she found out, to avoid the constant nagging and lectures she'd give them about putting all their energy in to a silly little pipe dream instead of a nice sensible job at the ministry.

In truth he felt sorry for them. Minevra had supported in what ever he had wanted to do no matter how stupid she thought it would be, like the time he'd wanted to climb Mount Everest one even before he knew what it was, or how long it took to climb it. He'd heard one of his classmates mention it in school and thought it would be great to do that over the weekend. Safe to say when he found out it could take several weeks to climb he'd vetoed that idea. Instead Minevra had suggested Grisedale Pike one of the smaller mountains in the Lake District, England.

Thinking about it he decided his plan could actually work.

"How much do you spend making joke products in a month?" He enquired casually.

"Erm, about 25 galleons? Sometimes more if it's something potions based, less if it's mainly spellwork. Why?"

" what do you think you could sell your joke products for?"

"What's this about?"

"Are you really serious about owning your own joke shop."

"Yes-"

"-Very-"

"-seriously serious."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well I was thinking that if you were serious about it-"

"-Which we are"

"-then you would need an investor."

"An investor?"

"Who would invest in us ?"

"Me." He said simply

Both the twins eyes widened as their jaws went slack. "R-really you would invest in us ?"

"Sure."

" but why?"

"I think you've got what it takes. You're inventive, creative and hard working, there's no reason you can't make your business a success with the right tools and start up money."

Letting that sink in he leaned back into his chair. "I was thinking a thousand to start of with, and if you make enough profit from selling the products out of school, then a full five thousand later to buy the shop and enough materials for you to work there full time."

"..."

"I don't need my name on the sign or anything, I'd rather nobody know I was involved, just a cut if the profits every month and maybe creating a few products I might come up with. Think of me as a secret investor. "

"Yes yes of course, equal partners sound good to you?"

Equal partners, that's over 30%! That was more than he had ever dared hope for.

"Brilliant" he said grinning and they shook on it. "I'll have a contract drawn up by the end of the week."

Walking back to the common room, leaving the twins in shock, he couldn't help but whistle happily. He was so happy he didn't even care if Snape caught him out after curfew and gave him a weeks worth of detentions. It would have been with it.

* * *

The week had gone brilliantly. He hadn't gotten a single detention, he'd brewed all his potions perfectly, he didn't have any homework to do, as he'd completed it in class and the contract for Fred and George to sign had arrived before breakfast. He literally couldn't stop smiling.

Blaise and Daphne had gotten so worried, that they started checking all their meals and drinks before they had them, just to check he hadn't pranked them. He didn't tell them that he hadn't done anything of course. What was the fun in that?

He was finishing up his breakfast when Daphne plopped down beside him.

"What are you getting Blaise for his birthday?"

Turning towards Daphne he grinned. "Nothing"

"Nothing?" She asked incredulously.

"Yep" he said popping a grape in to his mouth,"nothing."

She stared at him. " how can you not get him something you're his best friend!"

He shrugged."Been busy." And with that he got up from the bench and started making his way towards his first lesson.

It was the truth, he had been busy, but not with the menial things normal people do. He wasn't lying when he had told Daphne that he wasn't getting Blaise anything thing for his birthday he was just ... twisting the truth a little, yes that was it, twisting the truth. One thing was for certain, he was going to make sure that this was a birthday Blaise would _never_ forget.

* * *

~ Blaise

They were standing in the common room under the full scrutiny of the whole of slytherin house. If he was being honest he would say his hands were shaking from the nerves. He hadn't expected everyone to turn up, but surprisingly it seemed that nobody had anything better to do.

"Right" he started, "everyone knows that dumbledork decided to get rid of the quiditch cup this year in favour of the tri-wizard tournament, -" Most students groaned at the reminder their beloved quiditch had been cancelled. "- but we, being me and Harry, have decided to do something about it."

A wave of whispers and shouts went through the common room at the confident declaration. "How!"being the main thing that people wanted to know.

Harry stepped forward. "If you were actually listening when Dumbledore made his speech then you would know that he said that we couldn't play for the 'quiditch cup', not that we couldn't play quiditch.

There was a few groans from people who felt stupid for not thinking of that earlier.

"So, anyone who wants to play quiditch, will need to write their names down on this sheet at the end of the meeting next to the position they want to play. The positions also include referees as we will need someone to make sure that the match is fair," there are a few sniggers at this," and commentators. Referees will make oaths to judge fairly and teams will be picked randomly to give everyone a fair chance. Any questions?"

There's quiet in the common room.

"Great"

* * *

~ Harry

The decorations were up, the food and drinks out, courtesy of the twins and the elves who were all too happy to help. He'd asked the twins when they'd signed the contract if they knew of a way to smuggle a load of firewisky into the castle without the teachers knowing and they'd gladly told him all about the secret passageways to hogsmede and promised to get some for him. He'd also borrowed a few of their less explosive fireworks to set off some time during the party. He'd even warded the doors and walls with silencing wards so they couldn't be disturbed by nosy teachers.

He had already informed all of the house a couple of days before and everyone had been excited and anxious for the party to start, though he did get a lecture from Daphne about finding the perfect dress in such a short amount of time. All that was left was to tell Blaise and get dressed.

* * *

~ Neville

He was sitting at breakfast trying to tune out Hermione and Ron, when he noticed the whispers. They were quiet at first, just a few murmurs here and there, but it wasn't until later, when they grew louder and more numerous, that he began to pay attention to them.

"Have you seen them?"

"Wonder where they are?"

"...all of them?"

"...I heard that..."

He looked around the hall to see who was missing when he noticed what all the fuss was about. The whole of the slytherin table, except for the first and second years, was completely empty and breakfast was nearly over.

He looked over at Snape to see the man gritting his teeth, obviously annoyed at having most of his house missing for breakfast and most likely the first lessons.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Dumbledore talking to a house elf who was nodding frantically and then disappeared. He wondered what that was all about but as it turned out he wasn't left wondering long.

Not 10 minutes after the house elf had left, the rest of slytherin house shuffled into the hall all looking like they had just woken up and were still half asleep, which they probably were since it was most likely the house elf was sent to wake them up. But what had happened?

Almost all the older years looked disheveled, hair unbrushed, ties on wonky, some students didn't even have ties or even robes on for that matter, they just had half buttoned up crumpled shirts untucked from their trousers.

Dumbledore stood up and smiled in his grandfatherly way at the slytherins, his eyes twinkling madly.

"Ah I see the slytherin house has finally decided to grace us with their presence." He grinned.

There were some groans and noncommittal grunts from the far table as they all sat down.

"I must say though, as it is my duty as headmaster, that I hope you all got to bed on time last night and drank responsibly so that you are all now wide eyed and fresh faced ready to start that the day."

More groans. By this time Dumbledore was full on beaming and he chuckled.

"Ah youth, I remember it well. I hear congratulations are in order mr. Zabini if the party last night was anything to go by." He said looking over to the Italian looking boy they had met on the train.

Neville raised his eyebrows, party? That's why they were all late? Must have been some party.

Zabini smiled. "Thank you sir it was one hell of a party."

"I bet" Dumbledore mused. " I heard from the portraits that the slytherin common room was definitely the place to be last night, party of the century."

Snape curled his lip in distaste."idiots."

"Quite the country sir," the now identified zabini's Scottish friend said to Snape. "We sent the first and second years up to the dormitories with a few crates of butter beer and the third and forth years were sent to bed at one, the fifth years at two, not quite sure when the rest of us got to bed though."

Dumbledore spoke up "if I heard correctly it was somewhere between 4 and half five."

The Scotsman shrugged. He saw Dumbledore smile and sit down looking at the obviously hung over older years.

"I would offer to send you all up madam pomfrey but I doubt she has that many sobering potions."

The Scottish boy smiled,"Never mind, it would be unreasonably griffindoorish to not have a back up plan for the morning after." And he snapped his fingers and small shot glasses filled with a lime green potion appeared in front of all those who had come in late. The Scottish boy saluted Dumbledore with his glass "bottoms up."

Dumbledore laughed and went back to finishing his breakfast before stopping and speaking up again.

"I ask though that next time the giant squid stay _in_ the black lake, and not join the party, even if he did seem to enjoy it."

Most students jaws dropped, including his. What on earth _happened_ last night?


	6. September part 3

**Discaimer: anything recognisable from the Harry potter world belongs to JK Rowling, the rest of the ideas are mine.**

**AN. Thanks for the reviews. Kyoko27 asked a good question, the rest of the characters apart from Blaise, Harry, Daphne and a couple of others that you will find out about later are all the same age that they are in canon.**

* * *

~ Blaise

Ugh. His head was pounding like he had been trampled by a herd of hippogriffs. He groaned. Slowly opening his eyes he hissed as the harsh light his retinas. Pushing himself up on his elbows he looked around.

It looked like he was lying in the middle of the seventh year common room. All years in slytherin had separate common rooms aside from the main one downstairs and the bedrooms for each year surrounded them. He could see the seventh year common room was a mess. Banners and bottles were everywhere, as well as overturned bowls with food spilling over on to the floor. Strangely enough, he could even see a few bras hanging from the light chandelier above him.

He sighed flopping back down on the floor, it must have been wild last night. Suddenly he became aware of a weight on his chest, a very heavy human weight. Merlin! He hoped he hadn't done anything stupid last night.

Daring to take a peek and hoping he wasn't naked he glanced down and breathed a sigh of relief. His mother wasn't going to kill him. Now about that heavy weight pinning him down.

He recognised the girl as one of the slytherin fifth years, Millicent Bullstrodes older sister Beatrice. Unfortunately it seemed that Beatrice inherited the same unlucky genes as her younger sister and resembled more of a bulldog than a girl. Perhaps the Bullstrode's had interbred with that particular breed of dog some century's back, you could never tell with purebloods. Crazy insane the lot of 'em. He blamed it on cousins marrying cousins, it addled their brains. What to do about his particular predicament though. He was going to kill Harry when he got his hands on him.

Suddenly there was a loud banging and he covered his ears at the very unwelcome noise. There in the middle of the common room was a house elf banging a wooden spoon against a large metal pan. Bang, bang, bang.

"Headmaster whiskers is wanting you's down in the great hall in five minutes." Bang, bang, bang. "Up, up, up!"

There was a groan from his chest as Beatrice woke up from the noise and slowly sat up. Turning to look at him she blushed fiercely and squeaked before dashing off to her own common room, stumbling over various obstacles in her sleepy hangover state.

"Well at least that solved one problem" he grumbled to himself, slowly getting to his feet.

Turning around he saw Harry leaning against the doorframe to their room. Despite the rumours they didn't have their own rooms even in seventh year, but they only had two to a room in slytherin, which at least meant more privacy than other houses had.

"Ugh. I hate you, I feel like shit."

Harry smirked. "Looked like you had fun last night. You certainly didn't complain then. Who'd have thought you and Bulstrode? I can practically hear the wedding bells."

He threw a pillow at his friend "shut up."

Noticing his friends mostly dressed state, he wondered when Harry had gotten up.

"Why didn't you wake me?" He asked just as a girl nervously walked past Harry and picked up some underwear from the floor, before rushing out of the common room.

He raised his eyebrows incredulously "you had a girl in there last night?"

Harry shrugged "yeah, sixth year I think."

"But you hate girls!"

Harry rolled his eyes " no, I hate girls fawning and giggling over me when I'm trying to do something worthwhile, like study. I'm not a prude, you should know that by now."

True Harry had had a few girlfriends and he'd joined in in the locker room when they'd talked about their sexual exploits, but he hadn't thought that Harry had ever done one night stands.

He sighed walking towards their room to get dressed but tripped over a chocolate frog that only had one of its back legs still working, making it go around in circles.

He remembered that part of the night.

They had been drinking for a couple of hours when someone had come up with the idea to use chocolate frogs in a drinking game. The idea of the game had been to unwrap a load of chocolate frogs and try to catch them. It was hard enough when sober but when drunk it had been nearly impossible. Only a few of the more hardened drinkers had been able to catch one and most had just tripped and stumbled over each other. Anyone who didn't catch one had to drink a glass of firewhiskey. It had been great fun.

Looking in the mirror he jumped and screamed. His face and neck were covered in smeared red and pink lipstick. His shirt was mostly unbuttoned and he was missing both shoes and one sock. He also seemed to be wearing a bra with bright yellow ducks on it.

He heard a chuckling from behind him. He turned to Harry.

"Oh yeah I forgot, you have something there" he said indicating to his face.

He growled casting a '_scrougify' _on his face and rushed to get dressed trying to catch up to Harry who was making his way to the great hall.

Buttoning up his shirt he asked worriedly "I didn't really snog Bullstode did I?"

Harry smirked.

"Merlin no! I did?"

Harry laughed. "Nah, those lipstick marks were from about half the girls in the common room last night. They all wanted to give the birthday boy a kiss. You passed out around three and me and Daphne though it would be funny if we put you next to Bulstrode."

"You asshole, Merlin's saggy left tit, you nearly traumatised me!"

"Definitely worth it" he said grinning, "you should of seen your face!"

"Glad you thought it was so hilarious" he growled as they walked through the main common which was in a similar state to their common room. A group of house elves were near the window that faced into the black lake. They looked as if they were trying to get something large and slimy through the window.

They were near the great hall before he really thought about what he seen.

"Bloody hell, was that the giant _squid_!"

* * *

~ Harry

He was making his way up to the infirmary to see madam Pomfrey. He'd been reading the tomb on Druidic healing but hadn't had much luck with performing the spells. He'd finally come to the conclusion that healing spells were from a different branch of magic that was unlike any branch of magic he'd studied. So he was going to ask madam Pomfrey about maybe giving him a few lessons on healing so that he could get the hang of it.

He wouldn't tell her about the book of course. She was to close to Dumbledore for that. If Dumbledore found out about the books he'd found over the summer he would probably confiscate them and say they were to dangerous for him or some such crap like that. He had no doubt the confiscated books would then make their way into his personal library.

Pushing open the heavy wooden doors he made his way in to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey was busy with a first year that had somehow managed to acquire four sets of ears and told him she'd be with him in a minute. Slowly making his way over to her office he peeked inside.

There were a wide range of medical texts on the bookshelf nearest the door but the rest of the office was filled with magically expanded filing cabinets, probably filled with the medical records of all of the students that had ever attended Hogwarts. There must have been at least ten in her office alone.

"H' hmmm." A throat cleared behind him.

"Was there a reason for your visit mr. Potter- Peverell or did you come purely to snoop around my office?"

He stuttered embarrassed at being caught. "Actually there was. I was hoping you could help me actually. I've been trying out some healing spells recently but haven't managed to actually get any to work. I was hoping you could help me with that and maybe tell me what I'm doing wrong."

"Oh and what's wrong with going coming here when you're injured?"

He grimaced. "Well, you see, it's my last year this year so I figured that if I learnt how to do some healing spells now, then I wouldn't need to go running to Saint Mungo's every time in get a small cut. Besides, healing is an important branch of magic, I might need it urgently one day and not be able to get to a healer."

"Hmmm" she said studying me. " I'll see what I can do. I'm busy right now though and I'll have to talk to McGonagall to get her consent for this."

"Of course I wouldn't expect anything less."

"Well alright then. Now if you're not injured you better get down to the great hall before they finish serving dinner."

* * *

~ Neville

It was the weekend and he was really missing quiditch. He still couldn't believe Dumbledore had cancelled quiditch for a stupid tournament that only seventh years could enter. Still, at least the focus wouldn't be on him this year. He was only in fourth year, so he was too young to enter. Not that he would want to either, he had far too much fame already.

"Have you done your transfiguration homework yet, it's in for Monday?"

"Yeah that's Monday, it's only Saturday."

"Honestly Ron, not everyone does their homework at nearly midnight the night before its due. Neville, what about you?"

"Errr... Well actually I was thinking about going to sit by the black lake and maybe sit in the sun for a bit, it's only September it should still be warm enough."

"Honestly am I the only one that thinks about homework?"

"Yes!" Ron shouted. "Shall we go then?"

He looked to Hermione "we could take our homework and do it there."

She sighed "ok, let me get a few books, I'll read while you complete it."

When they got out on to the school grounds they were strangely empty. He could of sworn that he saw loads of students head outside earlier this morning. It wasn't until he heard a huge roar that he looked toward the quiditch pitch, where he could see most people congregated.

"Come on let's go see. Maybe it's Malfoy getting his arse kicked."

Somehow he doubted that but walked over following Ron anyway. Sadly it wasn't his nemesis getting taken down a peg or two but instead an actual quiditch match.

"I thought Dumbledore said that there weren't going to be any quiditch matches this year." Hermione said questioningly from behind him.

"So did I" he whispered.

From what he could see there were two teams playing in the air and another two sitting at the side of the pitch. They weren't wearing any house colours so he couldn't tell who was playing but he recognised most of them as slytherin. There was a loud crowd aswell. He could recognise students from all houses including griffindor in the stands watching the players.

He walked up to the closest person and asked what was going on.

"The slytherin's decided that they would organise their own quiditch tournament so they're playing against each other now."

"Can anybody play?"

The boy shook his head. "No anyone's free to watch though, as long as they don't interfere. If you really want to play you're going to have to ask the organisers, Potter-Peverell and Zabini." He gestured towards the two boys they'd annoyed on the train and who were supposedly behind the party in the slytherin dorms.

They were standing at the side of the pitch with a few sixth and seventh year ravenclaws and hufflepuffs writing names down on a piece of parchment. There was no way they'd let him play, especially not after Hermione and Ron insulted them on the train. He doubted they would let him play anyway purely because he was a griffindor, but that idea went out of the window when he saw Fred and George go over and put their names down. He would just have to think of a really good way to make it up to them so that they would let him play. For now though, he would just enjoy the match.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, please review. Next chapter Durmstrang and Beauxbatons arrive.**


	7. Arrivals

~ Harry

It was freezing. They were all standing outside on the steps leading up to the main entrance of Hogwarts waiting for the two other competing schools to arrive and it was only 2 degrees. Luckily he'd thought to put a warming charm on all his clothes and even his shoes or else he'd be even colder than he was already.

Blaise shivered beside him. Even though the Italian had been at the school for nearly seven years he still hadn't gotten used to the bitter cold winters. Harry, who had lived most of his life in the Scottish highlands had gotten used to it some years ago and was only complaining because he was bored. They had already been standing there for half an hour and he had better things to do than stand around in the cold waiting for the foreign students to arrive.

Earlier he and Blaise had been planning to skip the welcoming ceremony and feast and use the opportunity to use the deserted classroom they'd found in their third year to practise some of the darker defence spells Harry had found over the summer without interference from Dumbledore. Sadly that was not to be and they'd been escorted by his grandmother to the front steps.

When he'd told her that they could handle themselves and that they knew their way there on their own she had replied.

"Oh I know, but it's whether you'll actually go that's the crux of the matter isn't it? I don't want to have to go searching for you or spend any more of my time undoing any damages that you two hooligans have caused while you've had the chance to cause some mayhem."

He blamed it on mothers intuition. The ability to know when ones child is up to mischief or planning mischief. Although it could have just been experience.

"What about the Weasley twins, shouldn't you be more worried about them than your innocent little grandson and his best friend?"

She snorted and raised her eyebrow, her Scottish accent coming out more showing her amusement. "you've never been innocent laddie, you forget I taught y' father, and y' stopped being a wee boy in third year when ya shot up like a pesky weed. Severus is dealing with the Weasley twins, at the moment ya my priority."

So here he was in the cold with ominous black clouds lingering overhead wishing he was somewhere else. He saw no point in the tournament. To improve international relations was a load of hippogriff dung. Dumbledore was fooling nobody. The only reason it was going ahead was Dumbledore and the goons at the ministry pushing the idea, thinking it would be good publicity for Hogwarts.

The only good thing that would come from it was him brushing up on his French with pretty young girls. He'd learnt French in primary school and France had been one of the first places his gran had taken him to on a holiday that wasn't an adventure one.

They had gone to the south of France during the summer the year that he turned 9. They had spent most of the time relaxing on the beach and playing in the sea but Minerva had taken him to Paris one afternoon and they had travelled up the Eiffel Tower twice. They had been in the day to see the view from the top but he had heard someone say that Paris at night was spectacular, so he'd dragged his grandmother up again when the sky had gone dark.

It had been one of the prettiest sights he'd seen and they had just stayed and sat up there looking over the city, taking pictures until they had been told that it was time to leave. There had been twinkling lights wherever you looked, both at the sky and the ground.

His grandmother had wanted to go visit an art gallery called the louvre while they were there, but decided that it wasn't exactly an ideal place to take and eight year old, or more precisely she'd been scared that I'd be bored and then she'd have to deal with a bored eight year old potter. It wasn't his fault, he wasn't particularly naughty as such but it seemed that trouble and potters went hand in hand and that's the way it had always been. Just like the sky was blue you didn't get a potter who didn't constantly get themselves in to trouble. It was just the way the world was.

As well as the Eiffel Tower they had also eaten genuine French bread, not the stuff that's passed off as French bread in other parts of the world just because it's made out of French flour or baked using a French recipe. It had been the real stuff and it had been delicious. They had walked up to the local bakery every morning to get it while it was still hot and then travelled down to the beach.

On the beach he'd made sand castles and swam in the sea and also gone on what the muggles called a banana boat. It had been a giant banana like float that people sat on and then the float got dragged by a speed boat. He begged Minerva until she'd said yes but he noticed that she sent a discreet sticking charm his way so that he wouldn't fall off.

If there was some things that muggles got right it wad definitely their idea of entertainment.

He stood there for another few minutes grumbling about over protective mother hens before the Beauxbatons contingent finally decided to show up.

"Finally!" Blaise exclaimed as a huge carriage being pulled by six huge winged horses appeared out of nowhere.

The carriage crashed on to grass leading up to the castle and finally skidded to a stop in front of the steps. Out of the carriage stepped the most gigantic woman he'd ever seen and if he'd had to guess was most likely part giant. As she headed over to talk to the headmaster the rest of the students stepped out of the carriage. They were all wearing thin silk robes and obviously didn't dress for the weather as they were all shivering violently.

As the last girl claimed from the carriage the whispers increased as she was definitely the most beautiful girl of the lot with her silvery blonde hair and pale skin. Unfortunately she also seemed the most haughty as when she looked around she sniffed in disdain and held her nose up in the air, obviously not impressed with the legendary castle. He was definitely going to have fun knocking her down a peg or two.


	8. First Impressions

**AN. Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and follows, this story now has over 100 follows :) I'm so glad everyone's enjoying it**.

" _French_ ", " English "

* * *

~ Fleur

As they swooped down from the clouds in a way that made her stomach turn the castle, the infamous Hogwarts, suddenly came in to view. She'd been picked to go to the English school to showcase the best of Beauxbatons, and she was definitely the best.

She was the prettiest, richest, most intelligent girl on the carriage and it was ridiculous that any of these other girls thought they even had a chance at having their name picked by the goblet. No, she was the only one worthy enough here and it was about time that these other bitchy, silly little girls realised that.

They were all giggling about what they thought the English morons would be like and if there were going to be any cute boys. Ridiculous. She sneered at them when they burst out laughing. Honestly what was Madame Maximine thinking inviting most if them to represent their most prestigious school? Idiots the lots of them. They were going to be an embarrassment.

When the carriage skidded to a stop she waited until Madame Maximine and the other lesser girls had stepped out of the carriage before she made her way to the door. When she exited the carriage she heard the whispers increase. They were admiring her beauty of course, who wouldn't? Her father always told her she was a beautiful princess and should be treated as such.

The school wasn't much to look at. Sure it was big and imposing but Beauxbatons was much classier and the walls were made out of white marble not just dirty plain ordinary rock. Beauxbatons also had more towers and turrets. The grounds didn't even have fountains for Merlin's sake. What grand school didn't have fountains or properly manicured gardens? It looked like only grass until you reached either the lake or the forest. Where were the flowers? The roses and tulips?

What was with those uniforms aswell? Honestly hadn't they heard of fashion in Scotland? Those black standard robes were doing nothing for the students figures and the little animal badges sewed on to them made them look so silly and childish. Oh... Oh no, look at that girl! That yellow definitely doesn't suit her complexion. Oh, this was a nightmare! It was almost physically painful to look at them all. It really wasn't hard to try to make an effort to look good. With some tight silk robes in complementary colours they would look almost decent. She was not impressed. She definitely wasn't going to find any friends in this lot.

Suddenly all the students started shouting and pointing toward the lake, where the Durmstrang delegation was arriving. An underwater ship, how boring. Nothing flashy or elegant like Beauxbatons. They may as well have done by port key and saved them selves the trouble, and what was with those coats! The red and the the fur did not go at all! They did look warm though. Perhaps she would send a letter to her father asking him to send over one of Madame Cherie's finest fur coats. Her mother had suggested that she might need something warmer but she'd said no. She was only just a teeny tiny bit regretting that now, but only just a tiny bit.

"It's Viktor Krum!"

"Viktor Krum!"

Really, it was like these English wizards had never seen a celebrity before. He wasn't even a cute one, or that influential. Her father being the head of law enforcement in France meant that she was invited to _all_ the high socialite parities and events. There wasn't an important party or event that she wasn't invited to, and if she wasn't invited, it obviously wasn't important.

No, Viktor Krum was definitely not on her list of celebrities that she would ever want to meet. These English wizards though seemed to be crazy about him. Nearly as much as her if that was possible!

By the time they had been seated she was sure that nothing about Hogwarts had changed since it had been built. There had even been old suits of armour in the corridors. It was practically medieval! And Dumbledore hadn't even said his speech in French! It was common courtesy to speak in a guests home language when you are the one that invited them! Maybe she could forgive though because he was old and seemed like he was losing it. At the end of his speech he'd said 'Quabble chobble and stobble' or something like that. Definitely not sane.

At least they could eat now, she was quite hungry after the journey. She was impressed at the way that the food appeared on the table although she supposed a school as big as this had lots of house elves to cook and clean up after the students. The food though was horrific! The other students on the table seemed to be tucking in enthusiastically but she didn't dare touch the stuff. There was pies and gravy and casseroles and potatoes. Didn't these people know how many calories were in those! She'd have her weekly calorie intake for a week on just one slice! No wonder the girls here were larger than her! It was obvious they didn't care about looking presentable or watching their figures with the way they were piling food on to their plates. English food was so heavy.

No this would not do, this would not do at all. She would stick with her Bouillabaisse and leafy green salad thank you very much! She reached for the bowl of bouillabaisse only to find it empty. It seemed like she was going to have to find some more. Aha, she spotted some on the green table across the hall. Standing up and walking towards the far side of the hall she had only gotten a few steps before a hot and sweaty hand had latched on to her wrist.

Turning round to give him a piece of her mind she looked at the boy and shuddered. He had messy ginger hair and pimples and freckles all over his face. His eyes were slightly glassy and he had some drool dribbling off his chin.

"I'm the minister of magic and I once dated Merlin, go out with me?"

... "Ron, Merlin died about a thousand years ago. Also wasnt he an old man."

Honestly boys, as if that was going to impress her. Shaking off his hand she carried on walking towards her destination.

"Are you finished wiz zhe bouillabaisse?" She said interrupting the two boys that were talking.

"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone who's talking."

"What?"

"I said don't you know it's rude to interrupt-"

"I know what you zaid!"

"Oh, that's good then." He said and went back to talking to his friend.

"Zhe bouillabaisse. Can I 'ave it?"

"No."

This boy was really starting to get on her nerves."why?" She spat out.

"You didn't say please."

She spluttered. How dare this boy talk to her like that! "Don't you know who I am?"

"No. Why who are you?"

"Fleur Delacour" she said sneering down her nose at him.

"Well I'm Harry Potter and I still don't know who you are but you don't sound like anyone important to me."

She was seething. How dare this boy call her unimportant. How dare he. She'd tell her father about this and he'd put this silly little English boy in his place. Snatching the bouillabaisse off of the table she started to stomp away "_English_ _moron_."

"_Stupid French snob_."

She stopped and turned around to glare at him and then smirked. Letting out her allure she waited for him to embarrass himself and declare his undying love for her but he didn't. She turned it up as far as she could, getting the stares of nearly all the males in the hall but he just stared right at her raising his eyebrows, challenging her to do her worst. Nothing, he wasn't effected by her allure. How dare he not make an idiot if himself. She turned her nose up at him and stomped back to her place. Such disrespect, manners cost nothing! Were all English people barbarians?

As dinner started to wind down and the deserts started to appear she noticed a few if the girls further down the table giggling at her, in fact most of the table had gone quiet and were just staring at her. Had she got a hair out of place, had she got something in her teeth? Quickly conjuring a mirror she checked her face and screamed.

Her teeth were black and rotting, giving off a putrid smell and her face was filled with wrinkles and warts. Her beautiful hair that had been a silky shiny blonde was now a course wiry grey mess on top of her head. She even had thick black old lady whiskers sticking out of her chin. She was shaking with fury. Who had dared do this.

The whole hall was staring at her and laughing. She whipped her head around to look at the slytherin table where she could see Harry potter shaking so hard with laughter that he appeared to be crying. His Italian looking friend clapped him on the back and shook his hand. It had been him. He was going to pay for this. Even the muggle tales of fiery pits of hell were going to seem tame to what she'd do to him. Yes, Harry potter was going to pay big time.

* * *

~ George

He and Fred were in a spare classroom that they had made theirs over the last few months waiting for their secret investor. They had first found out about the place when they had mentioned to Harry about keeping the business small as they didn't have anywhere large enough to keep all of the stuff that they needed. Harry had then taken them to an abandoned part of the castle on the sixth floor and showed them an empty classroom that they could use.

He'd explained that nobody came up to that part of the castle, not even the house elves. He'd then set some wards around the room to stop anyone from venturing down the corridor or entering the spare classroom. He had reinforced the walls, windows, ceilings and floors 'just in case'. Since then though they had filled it with some spare furniture they had found and redecorated. Now the walls were bright orange, purple and green with a gold trim. Harry said it was an eyesore but they didn't care. They now had room to leave several cauldrons running and had a safe place to store all their notes without their mother finding out.

Loki had truly been looking down on them the day they had met Harry. Not only did he give them the means to achieve their dreams but he was also an amazing prankster. This afternoon for instance when he cursed that French girl with a slow acting ageing spell. When she screamed the whole school had heard her and looked over. He would have to get the spell off of Harry later and add it to their books for future reference. Maybe they could try and make it in to a potion?

The wards alerted him to Harry's arrival and he jumped up to open the door.

"Harry! That was an amazing-

"-Fantastic-"

"-whomping willow stopping-"

"-Snape smiling-"

"-spectacular prank-"

"-that you played-"

"- on the not so lovely-"

"- Miss Delacour."

"Thanks guys" he grinned. " she was being rude trying to make me embarrass myself with her allure, so I taught her a lesson."

"A very horrifying lesson-"

"-indeed!"

"So what was it that you guys wanted to talk about?" he asked warily poking the lion shaped sofa chair.

"Well..."

As Fred started to talk about all the success they'd had selling the products in school this last month, he couldn't help but think that Fleur would probably end up getting her own back. Never mind, who doesn't love a good prank war? He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. This year was going to be the best.

"Oh and before I leave, I know that you were both wanting to be on a team for the quiditch matches but could you try to convince Lee to commentate? It's just not the same without him."

"Sure thing Harry."

"We'll get him there-"

"-even if we have to threaten him-"

"-with being a test subject-"

"-for our new products."

"Thanks guys."

"See you later Harry!"

* * *

Thanks for reading and if there's any characters point of views that I haven't written yet that you want to see in the story, either pm me or post who you want in a review.

So far we have seen:  
Minerva  
Harry  
Blaise  
Neville  
Fred  
Fleur and  
George

All suggestions are welcome.

(Loki is the Norse god of mischief.)


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